[SI] Brandon Roy considers playing for Lakers [?!?]

[_Steve_]

What are the stakes this could become true?

[NovU]

If that does become true and if he ends up playing well... imagine the losses. Roy resurrects his career in LA while Oden does the same as a Heat. The Blazers relocation?

[Andrew]

Brandon Roy, the All-Star point guard who played five seasons with the Portland Trailblazers

Point guard? Really?

Nitpicking the article aside, it seems plausible. The Blazers amenstied him so he can't re-sign with them as far as I'm aware, but he's free to try and latch on elsewhere. If he's received a second opinion on his knees or is simply willing to take the risk, a comeback attempt wouldn't be a complete shock; having to retire so young would be a bitter pill to swallow, so I imagine he'd be keeping an open mind about the possibility.

[Sauru]

no news here, everyone wants to play for the lakers

[Oznogrd]

Brandon Roy, the All-Star point guard who played five seasons with the Portland Trailblazers

Point guard? Really?

Nitpicking the article aside, it seems plausible. The Blazers amenstied him so he can't re-sign with them as far as I'm aware, but he's free to try and latch on elsewhere. If he's received a second opinion on his knees or is simply willing to take the risk, a comeback attempt wouldn't be a complete shock; having to retire so young would be a bitter pill to swallow, so I imagine he'd be keeping an open mind about the possibility.

I never thought the retirement had anything to do with doctor's opinion. I always thought it had to do with he'd play 1 game and spend the next 3 weeks in agonizing pain? I know its hard to retire so young and you'd wanna give anything to be back out there, but is that amount of pain going to be worth it for him?

[benji]

IIRC, the Blazers wanted him to retire, he wanted to take time off and come back. But they didn't want to pay yet another star player $$$ to not play.

As a note, he can't play for the Blazers again until 2015-16 due to the amnesty. So he has to suit up for someone else if he comes back.

[rise]

Wasn't he told that he could "end up not walking" if he continued playing?

I hope Roy doesn't play for LA. For one, I'd have to root against him. I think he should go to the team with the magical medical staff: the Suns. They fixed up Grant Hill's career when it looked like it was pretty much done. I can imagine they could at least prolong Roy's career by a couple years.

Has Roy had that knee procedure that Kobe gets on his knees? If not, why hasn't he?

[Andrew]

I never thought the retirement had anything to do with doctor's opinion. I always thought it had to do with he'd play 1 game and spend the next 3 weeks in agonizing pain? I know its hard to retire so young and you'd wanna give anything to be back out there, but is that amount of pain going to be worth it for him?

From his statement:

"This is a very difficult and painful day. I love the game, I love the Portland Trail Blazers and I love our fans, but after consulting with my doctors, I will seek a determination that I've suffered a career ending injury, pursuant to the rules of the collective bargaining agreement.

"My family and health are most important to me and in the end this decision was about them and my quality of life. I want to thank Paul Allen, Larry Miller, Coach McMillan, the entire Trail Blazers organization and our fans for all of their love and support during my time in Portland. It was a great ride."

The pain and discomfort was obviously a factor, needless to say. However, it sounds like he ultimately made the decision after getting doctor's advice regarding the condition and subsequent quality of life if he continued to play.

Has Roy had that knee procedure that Kobe gets on his knees? If not, why hasn't he?

Different condition.

[Lamrock]

I hope he doesn't come back, for his sake. There's nothing that can be done for his knee condition and he was really bad last year. No need to further damage his knees and legacy. Even if he went to Phoenix with their vaunted training staff, he would be hardly an upgrade over Michael Redd.

He should have tried to get a front office job for Portland or something imo, but I'm a homer

[Andrew]

Really bad? He didn't shoot the ball particularly well but apart from that he wasn't too bad across the board, for someone battling such serious knee problems. He even had a couple of throwback games in the first round against Dallas.

[Nick]

Damn, he's gonna be in a wheelchair when he's an elder if he follows through with this.

Either that or it could be the most epic comeback story of all time.

[[Q]]

IIRC, the Blazers wanted him to retire

they did the same with darius miles and im sure they tried something similar with oden

[uly]

I thought Brandon Roy is retiring for good? If he’ll come up. We will not be the same Brandon Roy when he was still in Portland.. I think he can back up Bryant coming off the bench.

[Andrew]

they did the same with darius miles and im sure they tried something similar with oden

I don't think they tried it with Oden, they ended up re-signing him to a one year deal this past offseason after all. They definitely gave it a shot with Miles though and it came back to haunt them, also causing them to lose face when they tried to bully other teams into not signing him.

[benji]

A one year deal that was after the fact negotiated down towards the minimum rather than what Oden would have made on the market.

[Mavs4Life]

I wish him the best, but I agree with Lamrock, I don't think his comeback will be anything huge, with his knee problems and likely playing behind Kobe. I hope he proves me wrong.

[Lamrock]

The Amnesty clause makes this a diferent situation than the Darius Miles one. Miles was always injured and always awful so Pritchard figured he might be able to snare a max contract in the now somewhat infamous '09 offseason by getting him off the books. Thing is, he could still play, so the Grizzlies signed him for 10 games to void the retirement and hurt what many people thought was going to be the best team in the West going forward. Since Roy was amnestied, his cap hold is gone from the Blazers, regardless of whether he ever plays again.

To answer Andrew's question from before, Roy was bad on a lot of different levels. The team could have almost used him this year, with replacement Jamal Crawford putting up arguably even worse numbers. However, he started the season as the top dog and was always in and out of the lineup. The team constantly had to adjust to Roy's game, and played considerably better when he wasn't on the floor. Roy slowed the team down and Andre Miller kept the team together by assuming Roy's role as facilitator.

I wish him the best, but I don't think a season or two of underwhelming basketball is worth possibly not walking someday.

[benji]

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Sour ... _Roy062512

Six years later, a new regime has genuine interest in making Roy a permanent fixture in Minnesota.

According to two league sources, the Wolves plan on making the three-time All-Star a two-year contract offer. The money is unknown.

[Andrew]

I guess it's not altogether surprising, the cartilage may not be there but the talent surely still is.

[shadowgrin]

So the Wolves will continue to suck because of bad management moves. Poor Kevin Love. KG all over again.

[Andrew]

I can't imagine it would hurt them too much. Given the circumstances, there's not going to be a huge contract involved, nor a lot of hopes pinned on Roy being much more than a solid roleplayer, if he can stay healthy. They're not exactly putting all their eggs in one basket here.

[Murat]

Then I consider to leave the school.

Do people in USA consider about this kind of rumors? In Turkey, people do about football rumors. I remember well, a newspaper there said that Ronaldinho was going to Fenerbahçe. It's something like Del Piero, who decided to retire a few weeks ago, is going to Arsenal.

[[Q]]

Bulls, TWolves, Pacers, Mavs, Warriors in the mix

[Andrew]

I'm a little surprised to see the Bulls in there but I suppose he's worth the low risk of a minimum contract to see if his knees can hold up. If so, he's probably still capable of being better than anyone else they have at the position, so why not.

[Stress Fracture]

So Roy did what Kobe did on his knee. Would that replenish his knee cartilages?